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  • Essay / The Indigenous Peoples of Australia - 1078

    More than 500 indigenous tribes inhabited Australia before British colonization, and each group lived in close relationship with the land (Digital, 2015). Practicing and revitalizing cultural traditions, spiritual traditions and customs should be a right for all Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Streich, 2009, p. 28). Indigenous Australians identify themselves through their region, language, relationships and histories. Their cultural heritage is passed down from generation to generation (Australia.gov.au, 2015). For indigenous people, killing animals for food and building shelter is a ritual and, in large part, a cultural and spiritual journey. Indigenous people were restricted and prohibited from practicing their traditional culture, resulting in the loss of their identity and limiting the cultural knowledge of future generations. Indigenous culture was attacked in an attempt to make indigenous people more European. Their identity was threatened by giving them settler names and clothing, removing them from their traditional lands, and placing them on centralized reservations among other indigenous peoples from many different tribes. This policy of segregation had a huge impact on the lives of Aboriginal people. They were deprived of the right to practice and maintain traditional practices.